Даниэль Дефо - Roxana

But now he put on the Face, not of a Man of Compassion only, but of a Man of Friendship and Kindness, and this was so unexpected, that it was surprizing: We chatted together, and were, as I may call it, Chearful, which was more than I could say I had been for three Years before; he sent for Wine and Beer too, for I had none; poor Amy and I had drank nothing but Water for many Weeks, and indeed, I have often wonder’d at the faithful Temper of the poor Girl; for which I but ill requited her at last.

When Amy was come with the Wine, he made her fill a Glass to him, and with the Glass in his Hand, he came to me, and kiss’d me, which I was, I confess, a little surpriz’d at, but more at what follow’d; for he told me, That as the sad Condition which I was reduc’d to, had made him pity me, so my Conduct in it, and the Courage I bore it with, had given him a more than ordinary Respect for me, and made him very thoughtful for my Good; that he was resolv’d for the present to do something to relieve me, and to employ his Thoughts in the mean time, to see if he could, for the future, put me into a Way to support myself.

While he found me change Colour, and look surpriz’d at his Discourse, for so I did to be sure, he turns to my Maid Amy , and looking at her, he says to me, I say all this Madam, before your Maid, because both she and you shall know that I have no ill Design, and that I have, in meer Kindness, resolv’d to do something for you, if I can; and as I have been a Witness of the uncommon Honesty and Fidelity of Mrs. Amy here, to you in all your Distresses, I know she may be trusted with so honest a Design as mine is; for, I assure you, I bear a proportion’d Regard to your Maid too, for her Affection to you.

Amy made him a Curtsie, and the poor Girl look’d so confounded with Joy, that she could not speak, but her Colour came and went, and every now and then she blush’d as red as Scarlet, and the next Minute look’d as pale as Death: Well, having said this, he sat down, made me sit down, and then drank to me, and made me drink two Glasses of Wine together; for, says he , you have Need of it, and so indeed I had: When he had done so, Come Amy, says he , with your Mistress’s Leave, you shall have a Glass too, so he made her drink two Glasses also, and then rising up; and now Amy, says he , go and get Dinner; and you, Madam, says he to me, go up and dress you, and come down and smile and be merry; adding, I’ll make you easie, if I can; and in the mean time, he said, he would walk in the Garden.

When he was gone, Amy chang’d her Countenance indeed, and look’d as merry as ever she did in her Life; Dear Madam! says she , what does this Gentleman mean? Nay, Amy, said I , he means to do us Good, you see, don’t he? I know no other Meaning he can have, for he can get nothing by me: I warrant you Madam, says she , he’ll ask you a Favour by and by: No, no, you are mistaken, Amy , I dare say, said I ; you heard what he said, didn’t you? Ay, says Amy it’s no matter for that, you shall see what he will do after Dinner: Well, well, Amy, says I , you have hard Thoughts of him, I cannot be of your Opinion; I don’t see any thing in him yet that looks like it: As to that, Madam, says Amy , I don’t see any thing of it yet neither; but what should move a Gentleman to take Pity of us, as he does? Nay, says I , that’s a hard thing too, that we should judge a Man to be wicked because he’s charitable; and vicious because he’s kind: O Madam, says Amy , there’s abundance of Charity begins in that Vice, and he is not so unacquainted with things, as not to know, that Poverty is the strongest Incentive; [51] Poverty is the strongest Incentive : Defoe often expresses this idea in his writings, sometimes proverbially as ‘Give me not Poverty lest I steal’, a paraphrase of Proverbs 30:8–9. See Robinson Crusoe , ed. Angus Ross (Penguin Books, 1965), p. 28; Moll Flanders , ed. Juliet Mitchell (Penguin Books, 1978), p. 188; Colonel Jack , ed. S. H. Monk (Oxford University Press, 1965), p. 165; and The Compleat English Gentleman , ed. Karl D. Bülbring (David Nutt, 1890), pp. 102–3. a Temptation, against which no Virtue is powerful enought to stand out; he knows your Condition as well as you do: Well, and what then? Why then he knows too that you are young and handsome, and he has the surest Bait in the World to take you with.

Well, Amy, said I , but he may find himself mistaken too in such a thing as that: Why, Madam, says Amy , I hope you won’t deny him, if he should offer it.

What d’ye mean by that, Hussy , said I ? No, I’d starve first.

I hope not, Madam, I hope you would be wiser; I’m sure if he will set you up, as he talks of, you ought to deny him nothing; and you will starve if you do not consent, that’s certain.

What, consent to lye with him for Bread? Amy, said I , How can you talk so?

Nay, Madam, says Amy , I don’t think you wou’d for any thing else; it would not be Lawful for any thing else, but for Bread, Madam; why nobody can starve, there’s no bearing that, I’m sure.

Ay, says I , but if he would give me an Estate to live on, he should not lye with me, I assure you.

Why look you, Madam, if he would but give you enough to live easie upon, he should lye with me for it with all my Heart.

That’s a Token, Amy , of inimitable Kindness to me, said I , and I know how to value it; but there’s more Friendship than Honesty in it, Amy .

O Madam, says Amy , I’d do any thing to get you out of this sad Condition; as to Honesty, I think Honesty is out of the Question, when Starving is the Case; are not we almost starv’d to Death?

I am indeed, said I , and thou art for my sake; but to be a Whore, Amy! and there I stopt.

Dear Madam, says Amy , if I will starve for your sake, I will be a Whore, or any thing, for your sake; why I would die for you, if I were put to it.

Why that’s an Excess of Affection, Amy , said I, I never met with before; I wish I may be ever in Condition to make you some Returns suitable: But however, Amy , you shall not be a Whore to him, to oblige him to be kind to me; no, Amy , nor I won’t be a Whore to him, if he would give me much more than he is able to give me, or do for me.

Why Madam, says Amy , I don’t say I will go and ask him; but I say, if he should promise to do so and so for you, and the Condition was such, that he would not serve you unless I would let him lye with me, he should lye with me as often as he would, rather than you should not have his Assistance; but this is but Talk, Madam, I don’t see any need of such Discourse, and you are of Opinion that there will be no need of it.

Indeed so I am, Amy ; but, said I , if there was, I tell you again, I’d die before I would consent, or before you should consent for my sake.

Hitherto I had not only preserv’d the Virtue itself, but the virtuous Inclination and Resolution; and had I kept myself there, I had been happy, tho’ I had perish’d of meer Hunger; [52] of meer Hunger : simply for hunger. for, without question, a Woman ought rather to die, than to prostitute her Virtue and Honour, let the Temptation be what it will.

But to return to my Story; he walk’d about the Garden; which was, indeed, all in Disorder, and over-run with Weeds, because I had not been able to hire a Gardener to do any thing to it, no not so much as to dig up Ground enough to sow a few Turnips and Carrots for Family-Use: After he had view’d it, he came in, and sent Amy to fetch a poor Man, a Gardener, that us’d to help our Man-Servant, and carry’d him into the Garden, and order’d him to do several things in it, to put it into a little Order; and this took him up near an Hour.